


The Roses

by PaolaWarbler



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-07
Updated: 2014-05-07
Packaged: 2018-01-23 22:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1582382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaolaWarbler/pseuds/PaolaWarbler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>England’s national flower is, obviously, the rose. Inspired by a fanart I saw of England being surrounded by roses. The roses have finally taken their stand against the man who has destroyed everything they stand for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Roses

**Author's Note:**

> “Each flower is small and lovely, but in their sheer and silent abundance the roses become an immutable force…” –Blue Pastures by Mary Oliver

I was once overtaken by roses.   
Their beauty overwhelmed me and I was their prisoner. I was so captivated by their clean and inviting smell that I didn’t notice that their briars had begun to take root around my legs. It was only when it was weaving around my chest did I notice that I was trapped. The thorns had made their way around my neck and stopped. The roses tipped me over into their grasp and I was soon surrounded.   
I could hear their whispering. They were asking me why. “Why did you do that? There could’ve been another way.” Each of the roses was repeating my sins to me as if I didn’t know. They had told me all the people I wronged, all the places I hurt and every choice I made that had ended in disaster. And they keep getting louder and louder until all I could hear was snatches of words. “War…betrayal...millions…gone…why…why? Why? Why?” They all asked me why but I couldn’t speak for fear of the briars cutting into my throat.   
Finally one rose had tilted above me and whispered, in its sleepy soft voice, “You have betrayed us and the world. We have told you what you’ve become and how you have demolished all you stood for. Now, all you can do is to face your master.”   
I began to struggle against my bonds. “You can’t take me! I won’t allow it!” The briars have lightly scratched my skin but all I cared about was leaving.   
The rose titled towards my shaking mouth and it sounded like it was crying. A single drop of what looked like water came out and fell into my mouth. Then the roses started chanting. “Soon, soon, soon.”   
I cried. “No, this can’t be. I know I made mistakes. I know I have done unforgivable things but I can fix them! I swear I can! I can change.”   
But the flower just replied slowly, “It is too late and now you must face your judgment.” The roses were soft against my back and the briars have unwound from my body, already knowing that I was dead man. I felt my eyelids flutter and my breathing started to slow.   
“No.” I said, weakly.   
The flower above me just drooped onto my forehead and whispered, “Perhaps when you return, you will become greater than this.” It whispered in its sleepy voice.   
And then it stopped.  
********  
A young man walked beside a rose patch, years later. “Wow, these are beautiful.” He said and he stooped down to smell one.   
“You see, you have become more.”   
The man jerked up, surprised. “Hello?” He cried out, wondering if someone was around. Only the silenced answered him. He shrugged and chalked it up to the ending of a long day. He looked at the roses again and walked on his way.   
“Yes,” the flower whispered to its followers. “He has been forgiven and can now bear the mark of the rose with pride and with strength.”   
The other roses didn’t reply but every now and then, when one passed by the rose bush, they’d hear something whisper, “Pride and strength…”


End file.
